Love and Memories
by kbrewster
Summary: A oneshot tie-in to "If You Only Knew." Hotch and Emily go on a date, and call upon a familiar face to babysit Gabby.


**Goodness, I haven't posted anything at all here lately! I just haven't had much of a muse, and for those of you reading my other story (Til It's All Blown Away), I haven't abandoned it. I've just had the worst case of writer's block ever. It's so frustrating! Anyway, to try and get my muse back, I decided to write a tie-in to If You Only Knew. So per Kendall's (theadoptedbrewster's) request, this is what I came up with last night! : )**

**I do not own CM~**

"Emily, please stop pacing," Hotch laughed lightly at the obviously nervous woman. Before she could respond, he took her in his arms and hugged her tightly. "It's gonna be fine."

Emily sighed, relaxing ever so slightly into his touch. "I know. I'm being absolutely ridiculous," Emily groaned. She and Hotch were going out, just the two of them. Jack was away for the weekend with a friend, so Emily and Hotch would need a babysitter to watch Gabby. Originally, Hotch and Emily had planned on waiting until Jack was home to go on their date. However as few days ago, Declan had called and said he was coming into town. He visited the Hotchners and the date was mentioned in passing, and Declan volunteered to watch the young girl. Even though Emily reminded him over and over he didn't have to spend what little time he had off from work taking care of Gabby, Declan insisted, and it was set that Saturday night, Declan would come be the babysitter.

"You're not being ridiculous," Hotch told her soothingly.

"It's _Declan_," Emily said seriously. "It's someone I know and trust very much and I'm still worried about leaving Gabby because he isn't us or Jack!"

It had been six months since Doyle had died. During those six months, Gabby had come such a long way. Emily knew being so worried was irrational. She knew Doyle was gone, that she was finally safe. She also knew Declan would never do anything to put Gabby in harm's way. She hated that she felt as nervous as she did right now.

"Okay maybe just a _little _ridiculous," Hotch joked, earning a smile from the brunette he still held in his arms.

She pulled away to face him. "I know. I'm sorry. I just- it's hard when I spent so long worrying about her, about keeping us together, sometimes I forget it's over." Emily admitted.

Hotch smiled apologetically at her, as he took one of her hands in his, letting her know that he understood.

"I know how you feel." That was all he said, that was all he needed to say. Emily squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"Tell you what," Hotch added. "We won't leave until you're ready. We can stay for a while after Declan gets here, and you'll see how wonderfully Gabby and Declan get along, and then you'll be okay."

"You're the best," Emily told him with a quick kiss on the lips.

"That's why you married me," Hotch quipped.

"Something like that," Emily mused, just as they heard the doorbell ring. "Must be Declan," Emily said as she turned on her heels and made her way downstairs, where Gabby was already waiting.

"Declan's here!' Gabby said excitedly.

"I know! Right on time," Emily said , ruffling Gabby's hair as she passed the girl on her way to the door. Opened the door and greeted Declan with a warm smile and a hug.

"I still can't believe how much you've grown…" Emily said as he walked inside behind Emily.

"Nearly twenty years will do that to a person, I guess," Declan shrugged. "You still look the same," he commented, just as Gabby launched herself in Declan's arms.

"You don't have to suck up to me, Dec," she laughed. "Gabby, please don't hurt him," she joked with another laugh. Gabby had her arms wrapped around Declan's neck in protest when he tried to put her down.

"I'm a monkey!" Gabby laughed as Declan tried to shake her off him gently.

"Okay little monkey," Emily chastised lightly, pulling the excited girl off of Declan and setting her down on the ground. "Please don't climb on your babysitter for the evening." Emily instructed.

"You're no fun!" Gabby joked. "I wasn't hurting him, he lets me do that every time,"

"You're a mess," Emily commented, just as Hotch ventured down the stairs.

"Hey, Declan," he greeted happily, receiving an equally happy greeting from the blonde man standing in front of him. "Thanks for watching her for us," Hotch smiled.

"Oh no problem," Declan said. "We'll have lots of fun, won't we Gabby?" Declan asked.

"Yeah!" Gabby agreed excitedly.

Emily laughed; she would never have thought Declan Doyle would be standing in her living room, watching her daughter while she and her husband went out on a date together. Never in a million years. On top of that, the two of them adored each other.

"You sure you can put up with a nine-year-old for one night by yourself?" Hotch asked with a laugh, knowing no matter what you said, the little girl would find a way to get exactly what she wanted. He knew from experience, just a few weeks ago he'd somehow been coined into having his fingernails painted pink while he attended a tea party.

"I'm almost ten!" Gabby reminded the, happily. "My birthday is in exactly 26 and a half days," she said proudly.

"I think we'll get along just fine," Declan smiled.

"Well," Emily said after a beat of silence. "I guess Aaron and I will leave you two to it. Please try not to get into too much trouble. I'd like both of you, and the house, in one piece."

"We'll try to keep everything intact," Declan said, realizing Emily's joke.

"Good," she said, bending down to kiss Gabby on the forehead. "You'll be asleep before we get back, so goodnight and I love you, ma chere,"

"'Night. I love you, too!' Gaby smiled. Hotch bid his goodnight to Gabby as well.

"You two have fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Gabby called after them just as they closed the door. Hotch and Emily burst out laughing.

"Where in the world does she get these things?" Hotch wondered out loud.

"Garcia!" He said as the same time Emily did, sending them into another round of laughter.

"She's certainly something," Emily said as they got into the car.

"She's perfect, just like you," Hotch said as he and Emily drove off for their date.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"What do you wanna do first?" Declan asked once Hotch and Emily had left.

"Hmm…" Gabby said, pretending to be deep in thought. "Let's build a fort!" Gabby said suddenly.

"A fort?" Declan asked, a smile stretching across his face. "I'll have you know, I'm the best fort-maker in all the land." He proclaimed dramatically.

"Yay!" Gabby cheered excitedly. "Let's build it in the living room! Then we can watch a movie and eat dinner in it!"

"Okay," Declan agreed. "Why don't you go upstairs and bring back as many blankets and pillows as you can find? I'll move the chairs from the dining room so we'll have something to build the fort on," Declan instructed.

"You got it!' Gabby said, running up the stairs as quickly as she could. Declan heard her run up and down the stairs a few more times before he had all the chairs he needed placed in the living room where he would soon create their fort.

He and Gabby placed blankets on the floor, giving them somewhere to sit and be comfortable. Declan draped the remaining blankets over the chairs, giving their fort a structure. Despite Declan's age, he found himself childishly excited about the fort. He hadn't built one in years. He sent Gabby to find movies for them to watch as he placed pillows inside the fort strategically. He stood back once the last pillow was in place, admiring his work. The two of them were able to make a rather large fort. They'd had to move the couch back against the wall, so their fort took up much of the living room. Honestly, it looked like a heap of pillows and blankets thrown in the middle of the floor. But Declan knew to Gabby, it looked like a castle.

"What do you think?" Declan asked.

"This is _awesome_!" Gabby exclaimed, running inside the fort and flopping down on her stomach. "It's really comfy too!" she added. "Come on Dec, try it out!" Gabby requested.

Unable to refuse such a request from Gabby, Declan crawled into the fort with Gabby. "Not too bad at all, is it?"

"I wanna live in it!" Gabby informed him. "Do you think Mama and Daddy will keep this here forever?"

Declan laughed. "I bet they'll try to evict you," he joked.

"What's that mean?" Gabby asked, rolling over onto her side to face Declan, eager to take in new information such as a word she didn't know the meaning of.

"It means they might try to kick you out, and then move in themselves!" Declan said.

Gabby gasped, playing along with Declan. "We can't let that happen! Quick, make a sign that says 'do not evict… or else!'"

"Or else what?" Declan asked.

"Um… or else… I will refuse to go to school for two weeks!" Gabby said

"Ooh, that'll show them!" Decla laughed, exiting the fort and coming back minutes later with paper and a red marker for Gabby. "Here, you make the sign. I bet you write better than I do."

"But you're old!" Gabby said. "I mean… older than me…" Gabby added when Declan raised an eyebrow at her.

"You've never seen my handwriting," Declan told her.

"Okay, I'll make it," Gabby agreed, quickly scribbling the message across a piece of blank paper.

"Looks good, let's just hang it on the outside," Declan said, reaching for the sign.

"Wait!" Gabby said, backing away from Declan and writing on the paper again. "There, I put it in French at the bottom. See?" she asked proudly.

"Show off," Declan said playfully.

"I tried to teach you French last time you visited!" Gabby defended herself. "But someone kept getting all the answers wrong…" Gabby looked at Declan seriously.

"Okay, okay, you win. Can I hang this outside now?" he asked.

"Yep!" Gabby said happily. Declan left the fort once again, taping the sign on the outside of the fort where Hotch and Emily could see it when they walked through the door.

"Looks good," Declan commented. "What do you want for dinner, by the way?" he asked Gabby, noting the time.

Gabby poked her head outside the tent. "I don't know,"

"Well that's helpful," Declan said sarcastically. "What about pancakes?" Declan questioned.

"Pancakes for dinner?" Gabby asked, eyes wide with excitement. "That's the best thing ever!"

So, Declan thought. Emily must still make pancakes for dinner on occasion. He remembered that being his favorite thing when he was a kid, when Emily would make him pancakes for dinner.

"It is the best," Declan agreed. "Wanna help me make them?" he asked, heading into the kitchen, Gabby right on his heels.

"You bet! Can I crack the eggs?" she asked, taking the carton out of the refrigerator, nearly dropping it in her rush. Declan caught it just in time.

"As long as you don't break them all, yeah." Declan smiled, getting the rest of the ingredients out they would need.

Half an hour later, they had a huge batch of pancakes ready to be eaten. Declan hadn't made pancakes in years, never bothering to make such a mess when he was only cooking for himself. He had to admit, he was pretty excited about eating them.

"Okay, we're all done!" Declan said. "I'll fix your plate if you go pick out a movie for us to watch,"

"'Kay!" Gabby agreed, dashing back into the living room in search of the perfect movie.

Minutes later, Declan brought both plates of pancakes, along with some juice for them and set them inside the fort.

"What movie did you decide on?" Declan asked.

"Tangled!" Gabby said with a smile. "It's about Rapunzel!" she added.

"Ah," Declan said. "Is it good?" he asked.

"Mhm! Even Daddy likes it," she confided.

"He does, does he?" Declan pondered, stifling a laugh at the thought of the normally so serious man watching, and enjoying, such a movie. "Well, I trust you, so I'm sure it'll be good." Declan smiled

Just as he was about to press play on the remote, Gabby spoke up.

"Dec?" Gabby asked.

"Yeah?" he said, turning his attention to Gabby.

"Where'd you learn to make such good forts? And how did you know how much I like pancakes for dinner?" Gabby asked him.

Declan smiled, he hadn't talked about this in a long time. He hadn't had any reason to bring it up before.

"Your Mama taught me how to make a fort like this," Declan said proudly.

"No way!" Gabby exclaimed. "Mama can make forts like this?"

"She made one bigger than this before," Declan told her.

Gabby gasped. "That's _so _cool!"

Declan chuckled. "It was very cool. I was a little younger than you, probably about four or five. I remember my dad promised me he would spend the whole day with me, just the two of us. But then he left to do something for work. He forgot about spending time together," Declan said, keeping details brief, not wanting to completely disclose everything about his father with the little girl. He knew after she and Emily had been found, after Doyle had been shot, that Gabby had a bit of a hard time afterwards. He hoped talking about this wouldn't scare her.

"That's mean," Gabby said. "If he promised you, he shouldn't have gone to work," Gabby said. Declan was relieved Gabby seemed okay with the story, so he continued.

"Yeah, it was pretty mean. And I was still pretty little, so I was really upset. I remember seeing his car pull out of the driveway, and running to my room and crying. A little while later, your Mama came in and tried to make me feel better. When she said she had a surprise for me, it distracted me from being so upset. She picked me up and took me down to the den, and there was the biggest fort I'd ever seen. I swear, she used every chair, blanket, and pillow in the house. It was like a castle… a fort castle," he said, glancing down at Gabby who seemed nothing but intrigued by the story.

"That was nice," Gabby smiled.

"Yeah, you've got a really good mom," Declan told her.

"I know," Gabby nodded. "She's the best," she added.

"Don't ever forget it," Declan grinned. "Anyway, I thought that fort was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I wasn't upset for a while after that. Your Mama played with me in that fort for hours. By then, it was almost dinner time. We had someone that usually made dinner for us, but Emily told her not to worry about it that night. Emily let me help her make pancakes, and then we ate them in the fort. I was still sad I didn't get to spend the day with my dad, but Emily made it okay," Declan finished.

"Mama always makes it okay, that's her job." Gabby said simply. "I never asked her to make me a fort before. I never really thought about it much, til I saw one on TV last week. But she makes pancakes for dinner sometimes still. They're my favorite food ever," Gabby told him.

"Mine too," Declan agreed.

The two spent the rest of their night eating pancakes until they swore they'd never eat another one as long as they lived. They watched Tangled, and Declan would agree with anyone that it wasn't too bad of a movie. After that, Gabby insisted on watching Finding Nemo, but she fell asleep halfway through the movie. When Declan noticed she had fallen asleep, he quietly left the fort and went into the kitchen. He began washing the dishes from earlier, not wanting Emily and Hotch to come home to dirty dishes.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Just as he'd finished putting the last dish away, he heard the lock to the front door click, signifying Hotch and Emily's return from their night out. Declan swiftly walked into the living room to greet them.

"Hey," he whispered, remembering Gabby was sleeping in the fort.

"Hi," Emily greeted softly. "Did she fall asleep in the fort?" Emily asked, earning a nod from Declan. "Sounds just like somebody else I know," she winked. "Was she good for you?" Emily asked.

Declan nodded. "She's a great kid, Emily." He smiled. "Oh, guess what I made for dinner?" he quizzed her, wondering if she remembered the story he told Gabby earlier as vividly as he still did.

"You made pancakes didn't you?" Emily asked.

Declan nodded again. "She asked me where I learned to make such good forts, and how I knew she liked pancakes so much. So I told her about that time my dad-Doyle-whatever you want to call him, left for a job after he said he'd stay with me and how you made me a gigantic fort and pancakes for dinner," Declan explained. He noted the look of concern on Emily's face at the mention of Doyle. "She's okay, Emily. I didn't say his name. I just called him my dad. I'm not so sure she put it together right away. She's fine," he reassured her. Emily relaxed at that information.

"Thank you so much for watching her. I know you've got time off from work, you probably had something better you could be doing," Emily said.

Declan shook his head. "Nah, I come to town to see you guys," he reminded her.

"At least let me pay you, or something," Emily said.

"No," Declan protested. "That's not necessary. I had a good time, and I got to relive part of my childhood. That's good enough."

Emily smiled, pulling Declan in for a hug. "I love you, kiddo." Emily whispered into his ear, much like she had when he was young, back when he only knew her as Lauren.

"Love you, Mama," he replied, just like he used to.

Emily pulled away, a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.

"Hey," Hotch said suddenly. "What's this say?" he asked, using his phone to shine a light on the paper Declan had taped up earlier.

"'Do not evict… or else I will refuse to go to school for two weeks,'" he read aloud.

"She's afraid you'll like the fort so much you'll make her move out and move in," Declan explained. "She wants to live in it forever,"

Emily and Hotch chuckled, that sounded like something Gabby would say.

"We'll let her sleep there for tonight at least," Emily said. "I don't have the heart to make her move upstairs,"

After a round of goodbyes, Emily trying to repay Declan for watching that evening, and Declan fervently refusing all of Emily's offers, Declan left and headed back to his hotel for the night.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"And you were worried," Hotch said once he and Emily were upstairs in their bedroom.

"Shut up," Emily said, kissing Hotch right on the mouth.

"Yes ma'am," he said with a suggestive raise of his eyebrows.

"Ugh, men," Emily fake scoffed as she stripped out of her navy blue dress, exchanging it for a pair of comfortable pajamas.

"I'll remember that," Hotch joked as he ditched his own evening attire for pajamas.

"I'm sure you will. Hey, let's go sleep in the fort with Gabby," Emily suggested, a childlike light in her eyes.

"Seriously? Sleeping on the floor won't be good for our backs," Hotch reminded her.

"Oh please!" Emily rolled her eyes. "Declan learned his fort making skills from the master, and let me tell you, I bet you that fort floor is just as comfy as our bed. Please?" she asked him, poking her bottom lip out like Gabby often did when she wanted something.

"Oh alright, but if I wake up and am immobile I'm blaming it on you." Hotch said as they made their way downstairs and quietly settled into the fort next to Gabby.

"S'about time you guys came back down here," Gabby yawned sleepily.

"We thought you were asleep," Hotch said. "How long were you awake?"

"I heard you come in," Gabby informed them.

"Well it certainly looks like you and Declan had a nice time," Emily said as she brushed Gabby's hair back from her face.

"Mhm." Gabby agreed. "I like Declan. He's really nice," Gabby said.

"I like him too," Emily agreed.

"How come he's not mean like his dad was?" Gabby asked. Emily froze. She hadn't wanted to talk about Ian Doyle with Gabby ever again. But, she supposed, if Declan was going to be a regular part of their lives she might have to once in a while. Emily took in a breath before answering.

"Because Declan got away from him before he was old enough to see that his dad was a bad man," Emily said honestly.

"Oh," Gabby nodded, seeming accepting of that answer.

"You okay?" Emily asked, worried about Gabby being afraid.

"I'm okay," Gabby said as she settled back down in the fort.

"If you need us we'll be right here with you," Emily reminded her.

"I know, you always are," Gabby said as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep again.

Emily looked over Gabby's sleeping form and met Hotch's gaze.

"Told you," he mouthed. "She'll be okay,"

"I know," Emily mouthed back. And just like that, all of Emily's fear and worry seemed to slip away as she found herself also drifting off to sleep.


End file.
